Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, was made to eat his words after the Men in Green suffered an embarrassing loss to India in their T20 World Cup 2024 tie.
Pakistan had come into the match after losing to the USA in their tournament opener and Shahid Afridi had then said that it was only a warmup for Pakistan and their real World Cup begins against India.
“Our campaign starts today. The first game against the USA was a warm-up game for us. We are starting our World Cup against India. The toss will play a big role due to rain and cloud cover. The team that wins the toss will bowl first,” Afridi had said before the start of the India v Pakistan match in New York.
Well, Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. India was bowled out for 119 runs in 19 overs with Rishabh Pant top-scoring with 42 runs.
In reply, Pakistan embarrassingly bottled the chase, scoring 113/7 in 20 overs with Mohammad Rizwan making 31 in 44 balls. Pakistan lost by 6 runs and this was their 7th defeat in 8 matches to India in T20 World Cups.
Afridi, reflecting on the match, was stunned by the result.
"There is nothing to say. You do not get so many easy chances to win a match. It is regretful," he said in an exclusive conversation with Samaa TV.
Afridi noted, "India scored 30 to 40 runs less," pointing out that the target set by the Indian team was within reach for Pakistan.
